Tuesday, September 13, 2011

I was reading about Al Teller the other day, his name pops up in The Big Payback. He was the head of Columbia when the first Beastie Boys album came out on Def Jam, distributed by Columbia. Apparently he had to field an irate call for the top boss at CBS, telling him to pull the album, as the plane on the cover had similar marking to American Airlines, and the chief of American Airlines had threatened to pull his advertising from CBS tv stations. Teller refused, saying he would be the laughing stock of the record biz if he gave into this.

Frpm Hypebot...

"Al Teller ran CBS, Columbia and MCA Records, but in this interview with Ian Rogerson This Week In Music, he shares a visionary view of where the music industry is headed. It starts as a history lesson, but things get interesting around 17:30. Topics include how (sadly) mass-saturation radio play is still the most powerful way to connect with fans, and at 20:45 Rogers asks: “It seems that the music industry always relies on entities that don’t actually care about the future of music (Wal-Mart, iTunes)… Do you share that view?”.

Friday, September 09, 2011

“The one thing I learnt early on was you got to have your own sound,” he says. As someone who considers himself tone deaf, the producer focused on creating new sounds and noises rather than melody. In the late 70s, he brought unique ideas to the table such as mixing backwards.

The process involved adding effects to a song as it played in reverse, so that when you flipped it and played the track normally, those added sounds would play backwards. “I was one of the first people that did it,” Sherwood recalls. “In the 60s a lot of the hippies in the psychedelic movement, but not out of the reggae era, were doing that.”

But wait, there's music too! There's a big list of musical events happening at Queens Wharf in Auckland during the Rugby World Cup, quite a mixed bag too.

The opening tonight includes a rare concert from the Finn Brothers, but space is tight. As Neil Finn mentioned on Twitter yesterday..."appears the Finn brothers gig is very limited viewing and you will need to get there early. We do feel the public have been misled".

The NZ Herald reported that the capacity of Queens Wharf had been reduced from earlier estimates of 15,000 to 12,000, and the area where the Finns are playing has a capacity of 2000. The Finn Bros are on at 6.10pm. The post game lineup is 10.15pm: Dane Rumble, 10.45pm: Midnight Youth, 11.30pm: Kora, 12.50pm: DJ Manuel Bundy, til 2am.

Incredible live performance from Nina Simone. Wonder where it was shot? Video is tagged as Harlem, 1969. Hat tip to Wax Poetics.

If you want more of Miss Simone live, check out the DVD Nina Simone Live at Montreaux, 1976. It's a great show - she'd been away from performing for a number of years, living in Africa. She walks out onstage, the crowd duly applaud, and she stands there glaring at them, as if to say "Yes, it's me. Clap harder". Bonus footage includes some of her 1987 and 1990 performances at Montreaux.

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

"Mattered Much was not initially made for Oddisee's new album Rock Creek Park, but after putting together nine songs for the album, Oddisee went back into the hard drive, rediscovered this song up, and realized it was perfect for the album. Oddisee's really proud of the drum programming on this track, it took him "a long ass time to program all those rolls".

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Raggamuffin switched to smaller venues earlier this year in Oz, now Oz shows are canned... saw quite a lot of speculation online that the cancellation was due to the rubbish lineup... Billy Ocean not considered very reggae, surprise surprise...

McManus Entertainment announced this morning that Raggamuffin festival will not be returning in 2012, instead taking a break and returning ‘bigger and better than ever’ in 2013.

The promoter Andrew McManus said in a statement:

“We are concentrating on building the New Zealand leg of Raggamuffin into a massive two day festival.

“With 30,000 people attending the New Zealand shows in previous years, we are looking to double this in coming years. This growth will enable us to return to Australia in 2013 bigger and better than ever”.

Australian reggae fans will, however, be able to see several Raggamuffin acts play during a theatre tour, the details of which will be announced in the coming weeks.

Refunds for ‘Raggamuffin 2012’ pre sale tickets are available from the point of purchase."

ADDED McManus plans to double attendance of the Rotorua event in coming years. Current venue, Rotorua International Stadium has a capacity of 40,0000, so either he changes venues, or cities.

Monday, September 05, 2011

Saw this great story in the print edition of The Aucklander a few weeks back, took a while to find it online. Well worth the read. Profiles Waiata CD compiler Grant Gillander and one of the featured artists Rufus Rehu of the Quin Tikis. Waiata is out now. Tracklisting here.

Waiata is a Maori word reflecting different meanings surrounding music and songs. Many of those flavours are captured on a new two-disc album, Waiata, showcasing the contribution to music by Maori showbands, balladeers and pop stars from the 1950s to the early 80s.

The album collects many songs which have never been properly acknowledged or recognised. Music archivist Grant Gillanders compiled the tracks as a way of "giving back" to the music and musicians who inspired him.

"The CD is a way of giving back to the musicians and people, because the songs were a big part of my childhood," he says.

The project has been his main focus for the past five years and he admits it was difficult to find people with the same perceptions and passion as him.

Waiata crosses various genres. The first disc contains mainly rock 'n' roll and vocal harmonies from the 50s and 60s - artists like Johnny Cooper, who performs with Ken Avery & His Rockin' Rhythm Group in Rock Around the Clock, or Eddie Howell and the Bob Paris Combo performing Kansas City.

The second disc reflects the 70s, the era of disco, dance rhythm and Maori ballads, with Billy TK and Powerhouse singing Move On Up and Mark Williams' Sweet Wine. Also included are John Rowles (Tania) and Frankie Stevens (My Elusive Dream).

One of the artists delighted to see the music back on shelves is Rufus Rehu, who began his career with the Quin Tikis. The showband performed songs such as She's The Girl and What Now My Love.

Rehu, still performing around Auckland, began learning the piano at 8 and joined the Quin Tikis in 1960. In 1961 the band toured nationwide with the Miss New Zealand Pageant. Rufus impressed Des Cussins, who was looking for musicians to take to Sydney with the Maori Premiers. Rehu recalls one highlight as "performing in one of the top venues in Kings Cross, called Chequers Night Club".

In 1964, he left the Maori Premiers to rejoin the Quin Tikis in Australia.

Until 1967, the band released records in New Zealand and Australia, including Enchanted Sea, Get Me to the Church and Honky Tonk.

The band has a strong presence on Waiata, pictured on the cover and in five tracks, performing with artists such as Lisa Nuku, Rim D Paul and Keri Summers. Rehu, also remembered for his time with Quincy Conserve, earns Summers' accolade as the backbone of the Quin Tikis, and a truly great musician still sharing his passion for music with his audiences."

Sunday, September 04, 2011

Spied this on the latest show from Gilles Peterson on BBC. He also gives Naked and Famous a spin too, sandwiched them in between a tune from Thelonius Monk and that Screaming Jay remix. Gilles pops up in this video below too...

Trinity Roots play Auckland this evening, as part of their ongoing reunion shows. The weird thing is, it's not really Trinity Roots. Not the original lineup, anyways...

The band decided to call it a day back in 2005, just as their popularity was at its height. Many fans were very disappointed by this.

"We split up for a good reason and it was basically after being in Trinity for five or six years, we all felt that we needed to explore other musical genres and Trinity was becoming some sort of machine. If you get to a certain level, there is a momentum that takes over. And you feel like you're not in control anymore and it is a bit unnerving," Warren Maxwell said, in 2010 (NZPA).

Speculation at the time was that they had spilt due to personal differences. The band reformed last year, with the original lineup, talking up possible new recordings and live shows. They performed in NZ and also Australia.

In late July 2011, however, the band quietly announced that original drummer Riki Gooch was departing...

From the band's official site: "It is with much sadness that we announce Riki Gooch has decided to move on and will no longer be beating drums in TrinityRoots.

We thank him deeply for all that he has contributed to the band – we all know he’s an incredible musician and we wish him all the best for the future. ‘You leave big shoes to fill bro…’

TrinityRoots will however carry on, as will all our confirmed future shows – watch this space for further announcements."

That press release is a rather impressive piece of diplomacy. It says a lot without really saying anything. Whoever wrote it should get a job at the UN working for Helen Clark. The weird part is there is no explanation of why Gooch is leaving.

ADDED Saturday Sept 3 - heard a few reports on last night's gig, apparently their new drummer ripped it up, and not only can she drum, she can also sing. That would add a cool dimension to Trinity Roots sound -they have of course toured in the past with a guest female vocalist, such as Hollie Smith. Heard that Pompey sang Dawn Penn's No No No from behind the drumkit. They are also using Mark Vanilau on keys live, and he's got a great voice too.

Via Cut Collective..."More buffing over art without permission? Our friend who lives around Dominion Rd has been seeing the whitening of Dom Rd, badly painted, varying opacity white washing. This morning she saw they were setting up outside Liquid Cafe right over top of a piece by Elliot Francis Stewart, the cafe owners don’t know what’s going on… The people putting up the scaffold (apparently) don’t know what’s happening. So who does?"

UPDATE: Mayor Brown responded promptly via Twitter about an hour after I asked if he knew anything about this and was Council involved..."Art on Liquid cafe safe! Part of maintanance work being carried out by owner. Not Council work." Thank you, Mr Mayor.Very relieved.

Thursday, September 01, 2011

The Economist ran a few stories recently on the music industry - one of which was picked up in last Friday's NZ Herald business section. That story was called Spotting The Pirates, and looked at illegal downloading and media investment.

The 2nd story, Back To Black, observed the usual rise is vinyl sales, rattling off the numbers and so on. This number is worth having a look at tho... "In Spain sales have risen from 16,000 in 2005 to 104,000 in 2010. That is an increase from a tiny base, but any rise in media sales in Spain’s ravaged market is noteworthy."

So, how is Spain's market ravaged? "Last year IDC, a research firm, found that 92% of 16- to 24-year-old internet users (and fully 70% of 45- to 55-year-olds) in Spain admitted to using peer-to-peer networks. Music sales have collapsed. In 2010 barely 10m CDs were sold in the country—down from 71m in 2001. Digital sales are puny, too. “You can have a number-one album in Spain with 3,000 sales,” notes David Kassler, who manages EMI’s operations in Europe." SourceThe story also notes that the rise in vinyl started in the late 1990s with a surge of interest in dance vinyl from teens, but that crowd has now replaced that with laptops and memory sticks (this peculiar line of thought is commonly called "Blame Serato"). The latest vinyl wave, The Economist suggests, is driven by rock music.

"Chris Muratore of Nielsen, a research firm, says a little over half the top-selling vinyl albums in America this year have been releases by indie bands such as Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes. Last year’s bestselling new vinyl album was “The Suburbs” by Arcade Fire. Most of the other records sold are reissues of classic albums. Those idiosyncratic baby-boomers who were persuaded to trade in their LPs for CDs 20 years ago are now being told to buy records once again."

The notion that you can tell baby boomers what to do is hilarious. Anyways...

"Many vinyl records come with codes for downloading the album from the internet, making them more convenient than CDs. And fans like having something large and heavy to hold in their hands. Some think that half the records sold are not actually played."

Mailing list members are going to get a chance to win the entire Macro Dubplates collection on vinyl at the end of September. If you’re not already on the mailing list, sign up HERE.

In case you don’t know, Macro Dubplates is a mash-up series, produced by Chris Macro. Mashing up the best Dub Reggae versions, with classic hip hop vocals. 200,000 Downloads since 2009. Volumes 1 & 2 have passed into legend, and are now bootlegged on vinyl.

Monday, August 29, 2011

113 applications were received in this round, with each song put through its paces by a panel of seven industry types including Sarah Gandy (91ZM), Daniel Wrightson (Juice TV), James Meharry (RDU) Damian Vaughan (APRA), Andrew Tidball (Cheese On Toast), Scott Muir (dunedinmusic.com) and Olly Harmer (The Lab).

Out of the 34 projects selected, 11 artists will receive up to $10,000 for recording a song and making a video and a further 23 artists will receive $6,000 to make a video.

The following artists and projects will receive up to $10,000 to record a song and make a video.

All The Colours/Love Like This
Derty Sesh/Wanna Be Alone
Justyn featuring Eiko/Blood Type B
Rackets/Karma Is A Drag
Ria/Will You Be The One
The Babysitters Circus/Everything’s Going To Be Alright
The Unfaithful Ways/Trouble
Tommy Ill/Birdbath
Villainy/The Answer
Watercolours/Pazzida
Without Conscious Thought featuring Zu/Burn The City

The following artists and projects will receive $6,000 to make a video.

There has been a lot of musical chairs in music magazines here recently.

Rip It Up editor Phil Bell (DJ Sirvere) departed for the program director's role at MaiFM, and has been replaced by Leonie Hayden (ex editor, Groove Guide).

Sam Wicks, former Real Groove editor who replaced Hayden as Groove Guide editor before Tangible Media ditched the title, has landed a plum role editing a new magazine start-up for APN (NZ Herald, Listener) due to launch early September - it's called Volume. Groove Guide is now edited by its new owner, Grant Hislop.

I had the pleasure of seeing Fat Freddys Drop play live last week, at Microsoft's Techfest party, part of its annual Tech.Ed conference. They played two sets and absolutely killed it. Haven't seen the bros for a while, and they went off, in spite of playing to a roomful of geeks wearing red superhero capes - which were the admission ticket to the event (and who got into it too, I might add). Hopepea and Slave donned red capes too (see above photo), for their second set.

Speaking Freddys, here's a free download of a new tune...

"Brand new instrumental 'Bohannon Dub'. Hails from the lab of DJ Fitchie who, unbeknown to the bros, hit record while they were jamming in the lead up to a recording session. The title is inspired by Daniel Best's Berlin soulclub 'Bohannon' that he named in honour of American disco stomp musician, bandleader & producer, Hamilton Bohannon. Check the video 'Jetlag Does Venice, Bohannon Dub' on www.fatfreddysdrop.tv."

Current reading is The Big Payback: The history of the business of hiphop, by Dan Charnas - was reading about the first appearance of rap on mainstream tv in the US, after Rapture came out - a news item on 20/20. Produced by Danny Schecter, with input from Fab Five Freddy and Debbie Harry, it screened in spring of 1981. And of course, I found it on YouTube. Love that... fave moment - voiceover saying "even Madison avenue uses rap music to sell boomboxes..." accompanied by a tv ad for portable tape decks, with non-rap act Earth Wind and Fire filmed carrying boomboxes...

Brand new album on the way from Kid Creole and the Coconuts, recorded at their Sweden HQ. Free Dl below, of a tune co-written by Andy Butler of Hercules & Love Affair.

"August Darnell aka Kid Creole flexes his singular gift for the juxtaposition of the weighty with the superficial . The track title and its strutting rhythm conjure images of a night on the town, but a closer listen to the lyrics reveals something closer to a separation, an agreement to disagree. I Wake Up Screaming, Creole's first new album in over a decade, comes out September 27th on Strut."

Saturday, August 27, 2011

This video surfaced last week, just caught up with it via Pitchfork. If you aint watched it, it's genius. A reminder of what a fantastic actor Tom Waits is, when he's not making twisted music. Now go watch Down By Law. New Tom Waits album out Oct 25

"Multi-instrumentalist, arranger, producer, and vocalist, Jonti, began assembling music after his departure from South Africa to Australia. Spending countless hours studying records like they were books, processing each song, this became Jonti's music school, testing his theories on a 4-track recorder.

Jonti has now recorded with Mark Ronson, Santigold, Sean Lennon and the Dap-Kings, as well as producer John Agnello (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile). For Jonti’s debut album, coming this fall on Stones Throw, he went the opposite route, doing everything himself, start to finish.

Although Jonti describes his music as simple, label head Peanut Butter Wolf sees it as anything but that. “I understand the pop references because his music is so catchy, but the arrangements blew me away. I couldn’t figure out how the hell he did what he did. That he did it all on his own at such an early age kinda scared me. I knew right away I needed to add him to the roster.” You will soon understand why Stones Throw is proud to present it’s first Australian signing Jonti as a new member of the family."

"This has been one of my most productive summers & somehow I've managed to still enjoy the outdoors. I moved to Brooklyn, New York in October so this has been my first official summer in NYC. The inspiration I've received from my new environment has definitely had a positive impact on my music.

Once the weather broke, I spent allot of time cycling around New York & through its parks. It reminded me how much I loved Rock Creek Park in my home town, Washington, DC. This album is dedicated to Rock Creek Park & the memories its given me.

I won't waist your time with my sentimental connection to Rock Creek. In fact, I'm almost certain you'll hear it in the music. There's a story behind every title on this album & if you care to know about this record beyond the sound, it can be found in the liner notes."

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

The Auckland Council has agreed to let Askew handle the reinstatement of the Poynton tce mural. From Askew's blog, posted earlier today:

"A couple of weeks ago I met with Rob Garret who is Auckland Council’s public arts facilitator and we came to a very amicable agreement – one that is going to enable a positive outcome that will benefit everyone involved and hopefully also benefit many others.

The Council agreed to withdraw their call for submissions for the new mural and have instead agreed to make a settlement with me on behalf of the artists. I was asked to price out a fair figure on par with what we would charge for a similar sized mural work in a commercial situation. I came up with the figure of $10,440.00 which breaks down like this:

This morning we found that the amount of $10,440.00 + GST had been deposited into our account and as promised we put it to some charitable causes – after we paid the GST direct to the Government of course! This is where the money went:

And in light of the passing of NYC graffiti Legend Case2 last week – we donated the remaining $1,316.00 USD needed to reach their goal of $5,400.00 for his funeral costs.

So that’s the first aspect of this all sorted – what about the art work?

At this stage – we can’t paint the replacement mural at Poynten Tce but in the next couple of weeks I will seek to talk directly with the landlords there and see if we can just return things back to the way it was. We will paint and maintain that site again if possible.

In the mean time, The K’ Road Business Association have come to us with an alternative location, which is the side of 420/Rising Sun etc, the side facing the motorway. In an ideal world we will paint both locations or at the very least just the 420 spot but I have pulled together a fantastic team of local artists to get involved and will make more announcements about the project as it develops. At this stage it will likely be towards the end of the year as everyone involved are over-committed with their own projects for at least the next 2 months..."

"Nick Ashford, one-half of the legendary Motown songwriting duo Ashford & Simpson, has died at age 70. His longtime friend and former publicist Liz Rosenberg told The Associated Press that Ashford — who along with wife Valerie Simpson wrote some of Motown's biggest hits — died Monday in a New York City hospital. He had been suffering from throat cancer and had undergone radiation treatment.

Among the songs Ashford & Simpson penned are "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," ''You're All I Need To Get By" and "Reach Out And Touch Somebody's Hand."

Friday, August 19, 2011

Kiwi band Naked and Famous are on the bill at the three-day Pukkelpop Festival in Belgium. A storm ripped thru the event Thursday and caused the Chateau stage to collapse, killing three people and injuring about 70. The band Smith Westerns were playing on the Chateau stage when it collapsed, read their comments in this report from Pitchfork.

TVNZ reported that "Kiwi band The Naked And Famous were due to play at the festival overnight, but the show was cancelled following the storm. The band used their Twitter page to explain they were all ok.
"Pukkelpop has been destroyed by the worst storm we have ever been in. Please everyone: help each other," they tweeted.

TV3 reported that "The Auckland band, The Naked and Famous, had just performed for a crowd of 60,000 when a storm caused the stage to collapse into the audience... The Naked and Famous had just completed their performance on the stage before the storm and released this statement through their agent; “The Naked and Famous and their stage crew are safe but our thoughts are with those directly affected by the tragedy and their families”.

If TVNZ had checked the Pukkelpop website for the playing times, they would have seen that the band had finished their set at 5,.25pm, and the Smith Westerns set started at 6.15pm. So the Naked and Famous weren't due to play, they had already played.

And TV3 seems to be suggesting the stage where Naked and Famous had just finished performing when a storm caused their stage to collapse. If TV3 had checked the Pukkelpop website schedule, they would have seen the Naked and Famous were on the Club stage, and the stage that was reported as having collapsed was the Chateau stage.

And hats off to TV3 and Radio NZ for trying to contact the Naked and Famous via Twitter today asking for interviews. Neither bothered to say please. Manners, people.

Via Cut Collective, they got a written response to their petition from Auckland Council, noting that the Council's call for Expressions of Interest in repainting the mural has been dropped by Council. They have decided not to proceed with any of the proposals submitted. Something is on the way tho...

ADDED August 23, 2011: The Auckland Council has agreed to let Askew handle the reinstatement of the mural. From Askew's blog, posted earlier today:

"A couple of weeks ago I met with Rob Garret who is Auckland Council’s public arts facilitator and we came to a very amicable agreement – one that is going to enable a positive outcome that will benefit everyone involved and hopefully also benefit many others.

The Council agreed to withdraw their call for submissions for the new mural and have instead agreed to make a settlement with me on behalf of the artists. I was asked to price out a fair figure on par with what we would charge for a similar sized mural work in a commercial situation. I came up with the figure of $10,440.00 which breaks down like this:

This morning we found that the amount of $10,440.00 + GST had been deposited into our account and as promised we put it to some charitable causes – after we paid the GST direct to the Government of course! This is where the money went:

And in light of the passing of NYC graffiti Legend Case2 last week – we donated the remaining $1,316.00 USD needed to reach their goal of $5,400.00 for his funeral costs.

So that’s the first aspect of this all sorted – what about the art work?

At this stage – we can’t paint the replacement mural at Poynten Tce but in the next couple of weeks I will seek to talk directly with the landlords there and see if we can just return things back to the way it was. We will paint and maintain that site again if possible.

In the mean time, The K’ Road Business Association have come to us with an alternative location, which is the side of 420/Rising Sun etc, the side facing the motorway. In an ideal world we will paint both locations or at the very least just the 420 spot but I have pulled together a fantastic team of local artists to get involved and will make more announcements about the project as it develops. At this stage it will likely be towards the end of the year as everyone involved are over-committed with their own projects for at least the next 2 months..."

Monday, August 15, 2011

Jules Issa - Sweet child, found this on NZ On Air Hit Disc #5, with the Deepgrooves catalog no DG017. Don't know if it got a physical release as a single, unlike Issa's Dangerous Game. I also previously found two other single covers online, for the songs Discomfort in their eyes, and Found in you.

UPDATEDFound In you was a mini album featuring Sweet child, but in a different mix from the one above.

Gappy Ranks
One of Britain’s hottest reggae/dancehall artists , Gappy Ranks is set to give Splore attendees a heady mixture of seductive reggae and hip shaking dancehall grooves. Gappy has worked with US rapper Twista and UK MC Lethal B plus producers the Kray Twinz. It will be their first time to New Zealand.

Earl Gateshead
A London pioneer of reggae soundsystems Earl ‘s DJ lineage goes back to the late seventies in Brixton and later Soho and East London clubs where he worked alongside Big Youth, Dennis Alcapone, Adrian Sherwood and Bobby Digital. The selector for the Trojan Sound System juggernaut Earl returns to Splore to deliver a delightful dose of conscious, positive reggae music.

Shortee Blitz
Those who caught Shortee’s blistering party set at Splorecity in February will know what Shortee will bring to the beach at Splore 2012. Shortee Blitz is a UK hip hop legend … MOBO award winner, dj to the stars’ own private parties and host of London Kiss FM’s seminal hip hop show since 1994, Shortee will have you dancing like its hot at Splore’s Jagermeister DJ Stage this summer.

Tiki
Splore welcomes the return of Aotearoa’s favourite son to the Main Stage for an acoustic set with special backing from Optimus Gryme. Yes, you guessed it. .. a heady mix of beautiful ballads and some soaring bass-backed vocals from the crowd-pleasing Tiki Taane. Probably no NWA covers though … sorry.

The Yoots
The Yoots will be bringing their summer magic to Splore next February. The invention of flamboyant Fat Freddy’s Drop trombonist Hopepa (aka Jo Lindsay) and ten of his close muso mates who will be skanking out some classic Maori tunes for the Splore massive to sing along to. Think calypso-ska waiata with a dose of country soul.... by the beach. Tu meke!

Hermitude
First time to New Zealand for an exclusive show at Splore this world class Australia duo are accomplished musicians who bring great electronic beats and hip hop to life with a touch of Cuban-influenced rhythms. Hermitude’s innovative show will endear you forever to our cuzzies over the ditch.

Barons of Tang
Leaving a swathe of dancehall destruction on their first NZ tour earlier this year this Melbourne muso collective are returning to play their high energy mash-up of tango, rockabilly, metal and gypsy funk. If you haven’t experienced this irrepressible musical juggernaut grab your friends at Splore and dance like a dervish.

Lord Echo and His Melodies
Lord Echo and His Melodies will make their Auckland debut at Splore 2012. Presenting the debut "Melodies" album the band includes three sets of brothers - Sam and Jo Lindsay, Dan and Chris Yeabsley and of course Lord Echo and his dear brother Danny Pash. Also involved are Toby 'Clubba' Laing, Riki 'Daddy' Gooch, and Lucien 'I hate the Beatles' Johnson. With special guest singer Jennifer Betancourt on hand to recreate the sublime melodies you know and love.

The debut performance at Splore will be the first taste Aucklanders will have to savour a rustic mix of Disco-Reggae-Latin-Afrobeat silliness. In reality, 'Melodies' represents the better part of a decade’s sweat and toil from Black Seeds guitarist and producer Mike Fabulous.

The Nudge
The Wellington three piece led by Ryan Prebble that is gaining an enthusiastic following from their blistering live shows. This is cosmic blues and roots music at its best. Hendrix and Blind Lemon Jefferson anyone?

AHoriBuzz
The new project from Aaron Tokona (Weta, Cairo Knife Fight and Bongmaster) with Hori and Nick Gaffeney laying down a mean rhythm section. The Wellington trio head to Splore to inflict its free-wheeling brand of funk and soul.

Extended bio and more

Submit music for this blog

Submissions for this blog are currently closed as I get emailed with dozens of submissions daily, almost all of them for genres I have no interest in. This policy may be revised at a future date, when the quality of submissions improves.